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The HistoryMakers Accomplishments Time-line
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| 1974 -1976 |
- Julieanna L. Richardson conducts audiocassette interviews of Butterfly McQueen (Gone With the Wind), and Lee Whipper (then, the oldest living black actor) and others involved with the Harlem Renaissance and those who also knew author/writer, Langston Hughes.
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| July 1999 |
- The HistoryMakers is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and due diligence period begins.
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| December 1999 |
- The HistoryMakers interviews its first HistoryMaker, radio executive, Barry Mayo.
- The HistoryMakers interviews State Senate President Emil Jones, Jr. After the interview, Senator Jones is so impressed with The HistoryMakers that he agrees to help secure funding for the initiative.
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| February 2000 |
- The HistoryMakers radio series begins on WBBM-AM. Harry Belafonte agrees to come to Chicago for the national launch of The HistoryMakers.
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| March 2000 |
- The HistoryMakers receives $200,000 in funding from the State of Illinois.
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| April 2000 |
- The HistoryMakers begins it national outreach by interviewing Julian Bond in Washington, D.C..
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| May 2000 |
- Danny Glover agrees to interview his friend and fellow actor/humanitarian Harry Belafonte as part of The HistoryMakers National Launch.
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| June 2000 |
- Interviews begin for the State of Illinois project, Pioneers in the Struggle. This project traces the history of African Americans who have served in the Illinois General Assembly since 1877. This important, but little known history, is documented in an hour long TV documentary, interactive CD-ROM and curriculum guide.
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| August 2000 |
- The HistoryMakers holds its kick-off reception for An Evening with Harry Belafonte.
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| October 2000 |
- The HistoryMakers receives funding from the Illinois Humanities Council, the Chicago Community Trust and the Joyce Foundation.
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| November 2000 |
- The National Launch of The HistoryMakers kicks off with An Evening with Harry Belafonte. Over 1,000 people attended this event. Attendees described the program as riveting and life changing.
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| February 2001 |
- The HistoryMakers premiere An Evening with Harry Belafonte at the Chicago Cultural Center. The HistoryMakers and the Chicago Cultural Center host Three Artists, Three Lives, Three Stories. ABC 7 TV personality Bill Campbell moderates a discussion between artists Dawoud Bey, Richard Hunt and Allen Stringfellow. An Evening with Harry Belafonte airs on A&E. An Evening with Harry Belafonte airs on Network Chicago Channel 11.
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| March 2001 |
- The HistoryMakers is awarded a $240,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to conduct interviews over a two-year period in twenty-six of the Knight Community Initiative cities throughout the country.
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| September 2001 |
- The HistoryMakers hosts An Evening With Dionne Warwick kickoff reception.
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| October 2001 |
- The HistoryMakers, in conjunction with Senator Emil Jones, Governor George Ryan and Senator Mike Madigan, hosts a TV screening and roll out of Pioneers in the Struggle TV documentary, interactive CD-ROM and curriculum guide at the James R. Thompson State of Illinois Building. The HistoryMakers in collaboration with the Field Museum and the DuSable Museum of African-American History hosts Black and Red: The Little Known History of African American and American Indian Heritages.
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| November 2001 |
- An Evening with Dionne Warwick and a Salute to the 2001 HistoryMakers is held at the Field Museum on Thursday, November 15th.
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| February 2002 |
- WVON: The Good Ol’ Days of 60s Radio: A panel discussion at the Chicago Cultural Center with legendary personalities including Lucky Cordell, Cecil Hale, Herb Kent, Richard Pegue, and Pervis Spann. 450 people attend.
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| June 2002 |
- The HistoryMakers archive is named a special collection as part of the Illinois State Library system.
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| July 2002 |
- Pioneers in the Struggle: Three free training sessions are held during the months of June and July at Saint Xavier University for 90 teachers.
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| October 2002 |
- Meet The HistoryMakers: A Day of Education: Free seminar where 60 HistoryMakers from around the country serve as panelists and discussed their lives and experiences for an audience of 300 Chicago-area teachers, students and librarians. Teacher training conducted on the proper use of The HistoryMakers website. Becoming A HistoryMaker curriculum guides distributed. An Evening With Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee is held at the Art Institute of Chicago. The live interview is conducted by activist and educator, Angela Davis was taped as a PBS-TV program to air nationally. 1,000 people are in attendance, including 100 Chicago Public School teachers.
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| November 2002 |
- The HistoryMakers receives a grant of $75,000 as a recipient of the 2002 Citigroup Illinois Leadership Council Award to train teachers throughout the State of Illinois on the use of Pioneers in the Struggle.
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| February 2003 |
- Showtime! Black Theatre in Chicago held at the Chicago Cultural Center with support from the Illinois Humanities Council featuring leaders in Chicago‘s Black Theatre community: Val Gray Ward of Kuumba Theatre; Jackie Taylor of Black Ensemble Theatre; Douglas Alan Mann of Chicago Theatre Company; and Okoro Harold Johnson of ETA Creative Arts Foundation. 300 people in attendance.
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| March 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers receives $150,000 from Chicago Public Schools and $100,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to launch The HistoryMakers Education Institute.
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| April 2003 |
- Citigroup hosts a reception at The Metropolitan Club of Chicago to announce the launch of The HistoryMakers Education Institute.
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| May 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers is awarded a $5,000 grant from The Spencer Foundation and a $10,000 grant from The Field Foundation of Illinois to support The HistoryMakers Education Institute.
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| June 2003 |
- Harris Bank hosts a reception to launch The HistoryMakers Speakers Bureau on June 3, 2003
- The HistoryMakers is awarded a $30,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust to support its National Planning Summit, Creating A National Network in Chicago.
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| July 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers National Planning Summit is held in Chicago at the Wyndham Chicago Hotel July 25-27, 2003.
- The HistoryMakers Education Institute week-long teacher training sessions are held July 7-11 and July 14-18.
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| August 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers Education Institute brought together participating HistoryMakers and teachers for a meeting to review the Institute’s goals and to train HistoryMakers who are serving as mentors to Institute classrooms.
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| September 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers was awarded a $163,600 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to work in collaboration with Carnegie-Mellon University’s Informedia program to digitize and encode 400 interviews (1,200 hours) in its collection using a unique digital archival system developed by Professor Howard Wactlar and his team.
- The Polk Brothers Foundation awards a grant of $30,000 for The HistoryMakers Education Institute
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| October 2003 |
- Meet The HistoryMakers: A Day of Education: This second educational symposium is hosted by The HistoryMakers in conjunction with the DePaul Center for Urban Education. Sixty HistoryMakers meet with more than 300 students, teachers and librarians for a day-long interactive educational seminar.
- Breakfast with Lynn Whitfield: actress Lynn Whitfield, best known for playing Josephine Baker, has breakfast with and speaks before a crowd of 100 V.I.P guests at the Westin Hotel Chicago, encouraging their support of The HistoryMakers. Whitfield served as honorary co-chair for An Evening With B.B. King.
- An Evening With B.B. King: The HistoryMakers fourth annual celebrity interview, featuring Isaac Hayes interviewing the King of the Blues, B.B. King. Over 1,000 people attend the program, which is aired nationwide on PBS.
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| November 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers is awarded a grant of $10,000 from the Citigroup Foundation.
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| December 2003 |
- The HistoryMakers plays host to society maven Susan Fales-Hill in an exclusive afternoon tea and book signing at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago. Fales-Hill is the author of Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful, a memoir of her mother, Josephine Premice Fales.
- The HistoryMakers receive a grant of $25,000 from the Circle of Service Foundation to support The HistoryMakers Education Institute.
- The HistoryMakers staff attend a training seminar in Washington, D.C., for the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences grant.
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| January 2004 |
- The HistoryMakers hold a Training Summit that brought together potential interviewers/videographers and industry professionals on January 10th.
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| February 2004 |
- The HistoryMakers host several events including a reception and book signing featuring Mrs. Christine King Farris, the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in honor of her children's book: My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up With Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in February.
- PBS airs An Evening With B.B. King as a television special in select markets beginning in February.
- Sounds of Experience is presented at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of Black History Month on February 17th. Musicians Regina Baiocchi, Eldee Young, Donald Porter and Lonnie Brooks discuss their musical careers. 300 people attend.
- The HistoryMakers hold a Salute to Chicago 2003 HistoryMakers at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago on March 13th.
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| March 2004 |
- The HistoryMakers hold a Salute to Chicago 2003 HistoryMakers at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago on March 13th.
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| April 2004 |
- The HistoryMakers hold a Salute to Washington, D.C. 2003 HistoryMakers on April 30th.
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| June 2004 |
- An Evening With Della Reese. The famous music and television personality is interviewed by Lorraine Toussaint at Georgia Public Broadcasting to launch The HistoryMakers Atlanta/Southeast region. 300 people attend.
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| July 2004 |
- An Evening With Jeni LeGon at the Museum of Contemporary Art Auditorium is held on July 29th.
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| October 2004 |
- An Evening With Russell Simmons is taped in Chicago as a part of The HistoryMakers’ fifth anniversary, Simmons is interviewed by media maven Cathy Hughes, founder of Radio One and TV-One. 1,000 people attend.
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| November 2004 |
- The HistoryMakers hold a Salute to all California HistoryMakers on November 18th.
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| January 2005 |
- Movement in Motion is presented by The HistoryMakers at Harris Bank as part of Black History Month. 300 people attended.
- The HistoryMakers held its first Open House as part of the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.
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| February 2005 |
- An Evening with Russell Simmons aired beginning in February on PBS-TV and TV One.
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| May 2005 |
- An Evening with Diahann Carroll was taped in Washington, D.C., Carroll was interviewed by Journalist Gwen Ifill; 350 people attended this exclusive event.
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| June 2005 |
- An Evening with Nikki Giovanni is taped in Atlanta, Georia at Georgia Public Broadcasting. Giovanni was interviewed by writer Pearl Cleage; 300 people attended including Atlanta’s most prominent.
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| October 2005 |
- An Evening with Denyce Graves is taped in Chicago, Illiniois at Northwestern University’s Thorne Auditorium, Graves was interviewed by actress Angela Bassett; 500 people attended and they delighted the audience.
- The HistoryMakers hosted its fourth annual Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day of Education in Los Angeles working in collaboration with the University of Southern California, UCLA and its Center X program. Held at Los Angeles, California African American Museum.
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| 2006 |
- The HistoryMakers held its annual Open House and the symposium “Is the Civil rights Era Dead?” with panelists and HistoryMakers Timuel Black, Judge George Leighton, James Montgomery and Hermene Hartman at Second Presbyterian Church. The discussion was moderated by Clifford Kelley of WVON. This program was hosted by NewsCorporation.
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| January 2006 |
- The HistoryMakers, in collaboration with Simmons Lathan, hosted a Premiere Screening for the Talking Truth Documentary Series in Washington, D.C. Journalist Juan Williams also interviewed Sonia Sanchez during the program.
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| February 2006 |
- PBS-TV aired An Evening with Denyce Graves, An Evening with Nikki Giovanni and An Evening with Diahann Carroll in markets across the country.
- Celebrate Chuck Smith was presented at the Goodman Theatre where well-known theater director Chuck Smith was honored and interviewed by reporter Robin Robinson.
- The HistoryMakers hosted its fifth annual Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day in Education in Atlanta, Georgia. This program was followed by A Salute to Walter Massey and Dr. Louis Sullivan in collaboration with SunTrust Bank at the Georgia Aquarium. Both well-known educators were interviewed by former First Lady of Atlanta Valerie Richardson Jackson.
- Write On: The Art of the Written Word was presented by The HistoryMakers in collaboration with the Illinois Humanities Council at the Harris Bank Theater as part of Black History Month.
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| March 2006 |
- Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day of Education was hosted in Chicago, IL at the Merit School of Music. More than 40 HistoryMakers participated in panel discussions for 300 students and teachers. WVON held a live radio remote allowing attendees, HistoryMakers and students to talk directly to WVON listeners.
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| April 2006 |
- An Evening with Colin Powell is taped in Washington, D.C. at The George Washington University. Powell was interviewed by political commentator and author Juan Williams; 500 people attended.
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| June 2006 |
- An Evening with Andrew Young is taped in Atlanta, Georgia at Georgia Public Broadcasting, Young was interviewed by author and journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault. 400 people attended.
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| 2006 |
- The HistoryMakers hold a screening for An Evening with Andrew Young at the Martin Luther King Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia.
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| October 2006 |
- An Evening with Earl Graves is held in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre. Graves was interviewed by civil rights activist, Julian Bond. Over 1200 people attended and were delighted by the warmth between Bond and Graves and the significance of this business leader’s life and story.
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| 2007 |
- A Conversation to Honor African-American Leaders in the Insurance Industry sponsored by Aon Corporation featured five insurance executives (James H. Speed, Jr. of North Carolina Mutual Insurance; Ronald D. McNeil of Allstate Insurance; Ronald D. Brown of Atlanta Life Insurance, Gregory Jones of State Farm Insurance; and James R. Lewis of CNA). The event was held at the AON Center in the Indiana Room as part of Campaign 400. 200 people attended.
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| 2007 |
- Samuel C. Thompson, Jr.: An American Life Story was the first annual Wayne A. McCoy Memorial Program sponsored by Schiff Hardin’s Diversity Committee. Samuel C. Thompson shared his life story and career in the field of law. The event was held at the Metropolitan Club in the Sears Tower.
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| 2007 |
- The University of Illinois and The HistoryMakers Together Making History: The University of Illinois and The HistoryMakers announced a three year, $1 million partnership. This partnership includes all three University of Illinois campuses, Chicago, Springfield and Champaign-Urbana. This collaboration has resulted in the hiring of a Project Director and Archivist, the creating of a summer fellowship and a graduate assistant program, a Speakers Bureau named in honor of Trustee Dr. Frances Carroll, The HistoryMakers Exhibits on all three campuses and introduction of The HistoryMakers into the University of Illinois curricula and classrooms with use of The HistoryMakers test digital archive.
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| 2007 |
- A Conversation with Roland Martin was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago as part of the Vernon d. Jarrett Senior Fellowship Lecture Series. Jounralist Roland Martin spoke about the future of education in the United Sates and took questions from the audience. 100 people attended.
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| September 2007 |
- An Evening with Quincy Jones: Taped in Washington, D.C. at The George Washington University Jack Morton Auditorium, Jones was interviewed by Journalist Gwen Ifill. 350 people attended.
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| February 2008 |
- PBS airs An Evening With Quincy Jones beginning in February in markets across the country.
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| May 2008 |
- The HistoryMakers presents The Power of Oral History in Washington, D.C. to showcase the organization’s digital archive. James Briggs Murray serves as guest speaker. 75 guests attend.
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| July 2008 |
- The HistoryMakers interviews all the living National Presidents of the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, Inc. for the Sponsor-A-HistoryMaker initiative. In exchange for the sponsorship, an interactive DVD is created to commemorate the two organizations’ collaboration and to honor the AKA Sorority’s 100 years of service. All the National Presidents are honored by The HistoryMakers at the AKA Sorority’s 100th Anniversary Boulé.
- Justice Leah Ward Sears: An American Life Story is the second annual Wayne A. McCoy Memorial Program sponsored by Schiff Hardin’s Diversity Committee. Justice Sears shares her life story and career as a judge and Georgia Supreme Court Justice. The event is held in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Ariel Investments hosts a special “Thank You” reception on July 29th for The HistoryMakers’ past sponsors, supporters and volunteers for their continued support and/or financial contributions over the past eight years.
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| September 2008 |
- An Evening With Eartha Kitt is taped in Chicago, Illinois at Northwestern University’s Thorne Auditorium. Kitt is interviewed by Gwen Ifill and performs three songs. It is Kitt’s last public interview and performance before her death on December 25, 2008. 300 people attend.
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| October 2008 |
- A Conversation With Sala Udin: The HistoryMakers’ Oral History Interview is held at the Oral History Association’s Annual Meeting. Udin shares his life story and experiences as a civil rights worker and theatre founder. The event is held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the Oral History Association’s Annual Meeting.
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| November 2008 |
- An Evening With Richard Parsons is taped in Washington, D.C. on the campus of The George Washington University at Jack Morton Auditorium. Business executive Parsons is interviewed by CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien. 300 people attend
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